heleelhinis tiotie Beis Should You Give Your Teenager The Keys To The Car? by Richard Berman (NAPSA)—Asound guaranteed to sink the hearts of parents with teenagers: “Can I borrow thecar, pleeease?” The sun is out, the sky is blue, and your precious offspring want to hang out with a their friends, in your qe car. You're likely to re eventually give in, le. so it’s best to pre\ oe ‘| { a pare yourself, and i. them, for the re- sponsibilities of driving. Insurance is expensive because teenage drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group. Per mile traveled, teenagers have the highest involvement rates in all types of crashes, from those involving property damage to those that are fatal. Crashes are the leading cause of death among American teens. Quite simply, insurance is essential, but there are things you can do to reduce the cost. Putting the Brakes on Expenses Everyone would like to save on insurance costs, and that’s not a bad thing, however, you do not want to lower the liability limit, says Laurie Wallace of Amica Mutual Insurance (www.amica.com). “If a teenage driver causes physical damageor bodily injury,” says Wallace, “you need to be fully covered. You want to be sure to add your teenage driver to your policy and,if anything, increase the liability limit.” Whether parents are looking to add their children to a policy or simply renew a policy of their own, the best insurance companies are financially stable and have good ratings. Wallace suggests checking with consumer information companies such as J.D. Power and Associates or seeing whois the highest rated in the best consumer magazines. Some insurance companieslike Amicawill offer discounts to lower the cost of insurance. Discounts are available for teenagers who complete approved driver training courses and good students with a B average report card. Parents can combine discounts as well. Janet Bellows of Amica says, in most states, her company offers a discount for students who are away at school, over 100 miles from home, who don’t have a vehi- cle with them. “It is an excellent idea to keep the teenager on the parents’ policy in case they drive another vehicle while they are away at school,” she says. Lead by Example Bellows also advocates that teenage drivers be well supervised even after they’ve received their licenses. Teenage drivers often won't drive in the same manner with parents in the car as they do when their friends are there. Friends may goad teens into driving wildly, or the teens may just want to show off. Parents should limit the numberof passengers allowed in the car because sixteen year-olds’ fatal crashes are more likely to occur when other teenagers are in the car and the risk increases with every additional passenger. Curfews are a good idea as well. Parents should limit driving at night because this is a high-risk activity for beginners. Per mile driven, the nighttime fatal crash rate for 16 year-olds is about twice as high asit is during the day. Seat belts Are Mandatory “You can prepare your teenage driver by setting a good example yourself, like always wearing a seat belt and abiding by the law,” says Bellows. “Insist on seat belts all the time as more than half of all teens who die in crashes are completely unrestrained.” New dri- vers learn a lot from role models, so practice safe driving. Teens with crashes and violations often have parents who have poordriving records themselves. Obviously drinking and driving for teenagers and parents is com- pletely taboo. “Driver’s education programs offered in school or in the community are a good wayto learn,” says Wallace. “At Amica, we think parents should also put in drive time with the teenager. Also, it’s quite obvious that teens shouldn’t be driving sports cars or performance vehicles.” A License with Strings Attached It’s a critical time for parents when a teenager cangeta license. For a teenager it represents free- dom. But the price of freedom is steep. Parents shouldn’t just brush over important issues such as drinking and driving, seat belts, speeding and peer pressure by thinking their child would never do such a thing, because, sadly, the evidence often points to the contrary. Richard Berman is a writer specializing in insurance issues. He consulted with Amica Insurance (1-800-24-Amica) regarding information and content for this column.
